Hanford is proceeding with an almost $60 million contract to upgrade the City’s wastewater treatment facility.
“This is more than a repair. It’s a total modernization,” said Mark Kairis, Hanford mayor.
On May 19, the City Council approved a Limited Notice to Proceed for for project engineering with Opterra, an infrastructure modernization company. By passing the Limited Notice to Proceed, the City locked in the project price tag of $60 million, which would have continued to increase. The City negotiated that estimate down from Opterra’s original proposition of $67 million.
“They negotiated in good faith,” said City Utilities and Engineering Director Frank Senteno about Opterra. “This came through a lot of blood, sweat and tears.”
The City says the upgrades are necessary because while the facility may look okay from the outside, the equipment inside has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced. Some parts of the facility are from 1949. Along with a number of proposed upgrades, the outdated 5.5 MGD Primary Trickling Filter Plant must be replaced with a Ox-Ditch wastewater process, which is more energy efficient and capable of meeting future regulatory requirements. This replacement is necessary to eliminate the use of the hazardous pressurized gaseous chlorine, which is a potentially explosive chemical that requires staff to wear protective gear.